The Discovery Of Daccats Map
by Jonny 5
Summary: Chapter 9 is sort of done. Decided to make it an update for chapter 8 to make that one longer. Just look for the line and thats where the new stuff begins
1. Supplies

The Finding of Daccat's Map

Chapter 1 : Supplies

          Sailors Island, a fairly safe haven for all sailors and travellers, to stock up on supplies and to rest their bodies and minds. It is here where Vyse and his Friend Aika set off to make their legendary rescue of their friends and family from the Valuan Empire.

          However our story takes place before this, a long time before this, about 30 years before this. This is the story of Pedro and Gonzales and their important place in history, even if they will never realise it.

          "1000 gold pieces and that's my final offer"

          "I can only pay 500"

          "That's not my problem, I am only letting it go for 1000"

          "But no-one else will want it, that things old, real old"

          "Why do you want it then"

          "My ship just happens to be real old too"

          "So?"

          "Anything much newer than this will tear my ship apart if fired"

          "… Tell ya what if you pay what you have already then I'll keep it aside for you until you get the money. But if someone else comes and offers more than you for it then it will go"

          "I'll think about it"

Pedro exited the weapons shop, more than a little annoyed. Gonzales ran up to him. The pair were young both at 27 years old and were wearing typical pirate style clothes. Pedro wore mostly red and Gonzales green. They had known each other since they were children ad had grown up together up in a village near Windmill Island. *

          "I got the crystals and the moon stone fuel did you get any weapons?" said Gonzales

They had both just set off from their village in search of great riches and adventure, mostly riches. This meant they were both a more than a little short of supplies.

          " 'Fraid not. They didn't have anythin' handheld better than what we have already, and the only useful cannon was _way_ too much. The shop keeper said he would keep it to one side if we pay him what we already got." 

          "WHAT we cant afford that" 

          "I know! I heard in the Sailors' Guild that Nasr is in a bit of a financial rut"

          "You mean they don't have much money?"

          "Yes"

"So?"

Pedro sighed; he was the smarter of the two so this happened a lot.

          "Sooo, it means that we can pay less for stuff and get away with it"

A gust of wind kicked up a trail of dust as it blew across the street between the inn and weapons shop, Gonzales had disappeared. Pedro looked around the bustling town, from the old lighthouse across the construction site of the new inn and over to the sailors guild. Still no Gonzales, This is when the shout came.

          "Hey amigo lets get goin'"

          Pedro looked over to the docks just in time to see Gonzales start the small ships engines. Pedro ran as quickly as fast he could and jumped aboard the rotting deck just before the ship left the docks. This would have looked quite spectacular if he hadn't slipped on a patch of moss. Gonzales' face appeared above him.

          "This is no time to be restin' on the job" he said

          "I hate you"

*also known as pirate isle to its inhabitants


	2. Ghost Ship

Chapter 2: Ghost Ships 

          Sailors Island quickly became a dot on the horizon and all that was visible was its lighthouse, a shining beacon on the night sky. Gonzales and Pedro passed the time by doing makeshift repairs to their rickety old ship. It consisted of two decks*, above and below deck. They took it in turns to sail and clean, Gonzales usually repaired the bridge and main deck, and Pedro did the storage area (below deck). That night they slept in hammocks on the bridge (it being the only part of the ship without any holes in). Their ship sailed slowly in autopilot (a broom**) towards Nasr's South Dannel Straight. The gentle hum of the engine acted as a lullaby for the two friends and for sailors all over the world. The week after the pair had left Sailor's Island had been uneventful***. However this was about to change.

          In the clouds just ahead one night a silent ship waited. It was a small ship coloured unusually for a ship, all greys and whites to make it harder to see against a cloudy sky. From the top of its mast came a whistle, low pitched and long, when it stopped another whistle came from lower down. This exchange continued for a few minutes, until a black flag with a skull and crossbones motif on it was hoisted and the ships engines glowed into life. Awoken from its slumber it moved slowly towards the boundaries of the cloud it was hiding in, and waited.

          Against the gentle hum of an engine these whistles usually go unnoticed… Usually.

          Gonzales was awoken by what seemed to be a series of high pitched whistles. He sat up quietly and tuned his ears to the new sounds.

          "Pedro… HEY PEDRO"

          "Hnh, what"

          "Can you hear that?"

          "Hear what"

          "That whistling."

          "Probably just a bunch of Sky Sardis"

          "No it sounds more, structured that a bunch of fish. Sounds like there are only two of them too."

          "It's Probably nothing"

BOOM… Crash. The mystery ship started firing.

          "Nice going cannonball breath" said Gonzales as he picked himself up from the floor.

          "Just shut up and man the cannon. I'll start the evasive manoeuvres" replied Pedro

          The small boat turned sharply to port****, the wooden sides creaked and split, under a strain that it was not intended to be under when it was new. Gonzales ran to the ships prow main (and only) cannon and fired a shot at where the attacking vessel. As the moon glinted off the cannon, Gonzales saw the flag.

          "HEY PEDRO WE'VE GOT BLACK PIRATES HERE" he shouted.

          "I'LL SEE IF I CAN GET CLOSE ENOUGH TO SEE WHO WE'RE UP AGAINST"

          Gonzales felt the ship turn towards their mystery attackers. Then he saw the nameplate. "The Phantom Fighter" he read

          "Oh no." Gonzales looked over at Pedro. His friend's forlorn face told him that he had seen it too. Their boat turned sharply to starboard under a hail of shells. Most missed completely, others caused minor damage, one however exploded right above the bridge tearing off its canopy. Pedro's face could no longer be seen in the window and the unstableness of the ship told him that no-one was in control any more. Another shell exploded off the prow. Shrapnel tore across Gonzales' face, he felt blood trickle down his cheek. Then when hope was all but spent.

          "Bugger'em" Gonzales felt a fire rise up from within him, growing and expanding. He instinctively looked towards the rising red moon and felt himself lose all self-control.

          "MOONS GIVE ME STRENGTH" The loaded cannon ball glowed white with the fires of pyres. Gonzales grinned like a monkey with the keys to a banana plantation. He aimed at the enemy's hull, and fired. The ball flew straight and true. Had there been a third ship, and observer, it would have looked much like a shooting star. It hit the Phantom Fighters stern and exploded. A flash of blinding white light blinded Gonzales momentarily. Much of that section turned to ash instantly; with its engines gone the ship began to fall towards Deep Ocean. A lifeboat could just be seen escaping from the plummeting ships hull, but was ignored by Gonzales. The phantom crashed on a small rock just above the lower sky. Gonzales rushed towards the burning remains of the bridge and to his friend's aid. A shadow crawled out of the remains of the phantom and swore revenge against his lost foe.

* A Sailors term for a level on a ship

** To stop the wheel from moving

*** I am aware that this journey could be made in two minutes on the game but lets be realistic here, please.

**** Prow = Front. Starboard =  Right, Stern = Back, Port = Left


	3. Getting to know

Chapter 3: Getting To Know Gonzales folded his jacket and rested his friend's head on it. He surveyed the damage done to the ship as well as himself and Pedro. He reasoned that the ship was probably going to stay afloat for a while yet, the fires weren't that bad and would probably would burn themselves out in less that an hour. He then got to work on healing Pedro's wounds; this was deduced using his advanced medical skills that Pedro ought to be tended to first because unlike Gonzales was not conscious. Gonzales thought that Pedro probably had a broken arm and leg (they probably aren't meant to be at the angle they were at). He had just begun to set this right when the ship rocked slightly but suddenly enough for Gonzales to suspect trouble. "What now?" Gonzales looked out of what remained of the window, and saw the lifeboat that had escaped only minutes before, hooking itself to the ship and drawing them nearer. "Blast" he muttered, "these guys just don't give up" Gonzales grabbed his cutlass, and readied himself for what would very likely be a difficult battle. Then two men dropped onto the deck, the boards creaked as the pair landed hard. Gonzales looked the two over and realised a couple of strange things. Number one they looked dumber and goofier than your average Black pirate. One was tall and lanky; the other was short, fat and had a cigar in his mouth. But the strangest thing was ... "No weapons?" Gonzales said bitterly to the two, but still kept up his guard just in case. "Why would we need them?" replied the tall one. "You do know we come in peace, don't you?" said the short one getting a little worried about the cutlass pointed at their throats. This is when Gonzales lost his patience. "YOU COME HERE EXPECTING ME TO BE PIECEFUL AFTER YOU HAVE ATTACKED US IN COLD BLOOD? BECAUSE OF YOU MY FRIEND IS LYING IN A POOL OF HIS OWN BLOOD" "'Ang on a mo, what makes you think we're on their side?" the tall one said defensively. "Yeah" added the small one "just because we come from the enemies ship doesn't make us the enemy. Oh and for the record we were prisoners on that ship, whoever it was" "You expect me to believe that? And even if I did believe it, what makes you think that qualifies you to be trustworthy?" replied Gonzales, through gritted teeth. "I'm not sayin' you should trust us, just to give us a chance to prove we're trustworthy" said the small one. "I, suppose that is acceptable." Said Gonzales, lowering his sword a little. "Do you need a hand with any thing? What I mean is, you said that your friend was hurt, so you tend to him and yourself and we will handle everything else." Said the big one. "Alright then. Just beware, one wrong move and ill cut both your throats and throw your carcasses overboard." "Well, we'll just bear that in mind" "Just who are you two anyway?" inquired Gonzales. "I'm glad you asked," Said the little one, "my name is Izmael, builder extraordinaire. BA-BAAM." "And I am Babham, got a problem with your engine then I'm yer man." Added the taller one. "Izmael and Babham huh? Well get to it then, Breakfast at first light." Izmael and Babham got to work immediately on the ship. Izmael started on the deck and hull, first he replaced all the seriously damaged planks of wood, and then he cleaned and treated some others. Babham got to work on the engine, or at least as best as he could whilst the thing was still on, Gonzales had wanted to get as far away as humanly possible from the crash site of the Phantom fighter. Gonzales continued to heal himself and Pedro, using Sacri crystals to heal as much as possible and making splints for Pedro's broken bones with pieces of wood Izmael had deemed too damaged to be usable anymore. Three hours passes and before the trio knew it light crept up from over the horizon. Gonzales had just finished healing the minor cuts on himself and Pedro using Sacri crystals when a mouth-watering smell wafted up from somewhere on the ship. He put the remaining crystals back in their storage box and followed his nose down below deck. When he got down the steps he saw Izmael and Babham sat around a small fire with a frying pan over it. A number of sausages were sizzling gently on it. "I'm low on raw materials so we're using up crates of things that are nearly finished" Izmael told Gonzales. "Though I'm not sure this old things going to hold together much longer without a serious overhaul. Sometime really soon" He added. "Oh and the engines seem ok from what I could get to while its still running, but it could go at anytime without a proper service." Said Babham "What do you mean by 'A proper service'?" asked Gonzales "Well if it were up to me I'd take the whole thing apart to see what needs repairing or replacing. You could get another engine but for something this old it would have to be custom made and they cost a bomb. The fact that there is no longer a point where the deck finishes and the engine starts is also a problem." "Fine we'll stop somewhere along the way to Nasrad to make all the necessary repairs" said Gonzales, still with more than a hint of apathy towards the newcomers. Footsteps were heard coming slowly down the steps to the hold where the three were talking. It was Pedro. "Ahh sausages that's grand that is." He said as soon as he saw the fire. "PEDRO, you're alright. Shouted Gonzales. "Sure am" replied Pedro as he took more than his fair share of sausages. "It's gonna take more than a cannon ball to the face to take me out of the picture." "Err quite, anyway these are Izmael and Babham" "I'm sure they're very nice." "I didn't mean the sausages." "Oh, yeah, Sorry, the names Pedro" he said to the duo. At this he took their hands and shook vigorously, with his good hand of course. "You have no idea where they're from do you?" asked Gonzales in a hushed voice. "Haven't a clue, but I would hazard a guess at that ship we were fighting. How did we do anyway?" "Hey, we were prisoners not crew members" retaliated Babham "Just who was that anyway? I mean he was all 'Look at me I'm big and strong. See me pick on puny ships with big cannons. All by myself. Mwa ha ha ha' " Gonzales and Pedro stared at them dumbfounded "You have no idea who that was?" "Nope" "Even though he had captured you?" "Still nope" "Should we have" inquired Babham "I dunno. He's only the worst Black Pirate who ever lived" Said Gonzales mockingly. "What does he do, hmm lets see. He attacks ships no matter who they are medical, humanitarian even other Black Pirates. He ransacks towns, burns some to the ground, publicly executes anyone who tries to stand up to him, captures anyone who may be useful to him. Once he's finished with ships that he has plundered he destroys them with any remaining crew on board. They even say that if any of his own crew are suspected of hiding something from him then they'll take a long walk off a short plank." "Bad was he then?" asked Babham "Still is, he has friends who will pick him up and help him along in no time at all. His ship will still be ok just needs a new engine and it'll be right on our tails." "So we won did we?" Pedro tried again. "Just who is 'he' anyway? You've still not told us his name." Said Izmael getting a little impatient and ignoring Pedro's question. "Abe Gillst." Replied Gonzales and Pedro in unison. "Who?" "Abe Gillst that's his name." "Oh...Not very piratey is it?" "No I suppose not." They all sat in silence for a few minutes. "So since we're all here now I might as well show you this." Said Izmael. At this he stood up and walked over to a pile of discarded wood and fished around for something. "Damn, where's it got to? Aha here it is." He moved some shards out of the way and blew on a large section of wood (for effect). It was obviously a section of the ships hull. "I bet you guys had no idea that this old bucket of bolts had a name." Said Izmael and he handed the board to Gonzales. Pedro peered over his friends shoulder curiously. "Let's have a look at this then. So this old bucket of bolts called 'The Light of Progress'" he read. "Not a bad name, I could probably think of something better but there's no sense in changing it now." Said Gonzales "Right then now that that's all sorted how about landing somewhere to make repairs. We could put that name back on the hull if you want us to." "Okay then, any ideas on where to go?" asked Gonzales "Well I believe there's an island not far from the South Dannel Straight. Friendly people, lots of resources" answered Babham "I think its called Geriva" "Geriva it is then" And at this the 'Light of Progress' sped up towards the South Dannel Straight and the port town of Geriva. No one noticed the small object tailing behind them. 


	4. Geriva

Sorry this chapter has taken so long to get here. It was taking too long to write what with a ton of work I have had to do. Also there was an accident involving the rough draft, a plate of donuts and a log flume (don't ask). So I decided to cut it short of the whole length of what it was going to be and to make it into two new chapters. Don't worry this doesn't mean there will be two short chapters as I intend to put a load of 'new content' for the next chapter and possibly this chapter too. Provided I can think of some. Anyway its over to you now please Read, Review and Enjoy.  
Jonny 5  
  
Chapter 4: Geriva  
  
Sailing time was now much shorter, with 4 people on board the group could now take shifts sailing without having to stop to sleep. This worked fairly smoothly or would have had Gonzales not insisted on staying awake for Izmaels and Babhams shifts.  
A week passed without major event and soon a fairly large landmass could be seen on the horizon.  
"Hey I can see land!" exclaimed Gonzales.  
"Yup. That there island is Geriva. It was founded by an air pirate, a Blue Rogue that is, for those who wanted just to get away from their hectic lives or similar, to settle down and maybe raise a family. Not many people know about it though, and you will be hard pushed to find it on a map that has not originated from Geriva itself. This unfortunately makes it a hotspot for pirate activity, novices mostly, who want an easy target without much in the way of consequences. Most of them are lying on the bottom of the sea now." Explained Babham  
"It should only take a few hours to get there, we ought to sleep for the night until morning," said Pedro "that way we will be able to spend the day there"  
"That sounds fine by me, this ok with you two." Asked Gonzales.  
"Yup"  
"No probs here" answered the pair  
The following morning the light of progress set off again towards Geriva. After an hour the entire island was visible to the small crew. The city was large, or at least compared to other towns, but nowhere near as large as the bustling cities of Valua or Nasr. It looked like streets had been added on as it's population grew and its needs with it. There were bridges and walkways linking the main land mass and smaller island around. Most of the smaller islands were farms to provide for the population but there were also other structures on them, such as forges or just plain old seating areas for all the 'cute couples'. The city looked run down but also like a paradise.  
Pedro couldn't help but notice something strange about the island.  
"I can't see any docks." He exclaimed, "The buildings look weird as well"  
"Most of the citizens are here to get away from something, they are not going to want big docks so they can get back to where ever. As for the buildings, I'm afraid I'm just as stumped as you are." Replied Izmael  
"So there are docks somewhere then?" asked Gonzales  
"Sure are but they're on land"  
"On land?"  
"Yup"  
"What's the point in that?"  
"You'll see"  
Gonzales set the Light of Progress down in one of the docks towards the centre of the city. Now they were closer it was obvious what they were intended for. All the dock consisted of was a fairly large area enclosed by a wall with a building in one corner they later discovered there were 4 docks linked by a central tower*. There was a wooden, frame I suppose it ought to be called, which had ropes and hinges to allow it to cater to the shape of many different shapes of hull.  
Dust was kicked up as the ship descended slowly onto the frame. Several men moved and adjusted the frame, as the ship got closer to the ground. When it had landed they secured it down with ropes, extended a ladder and went back to moving crates in an adjacent dock.  
The first thing that about the city that hit Gonzales was the floor**, the second was a disgruntled worker for not providing a tip, and the third was how strange compared to, well every other city Gonzales had ever been to, the buildings were. The walls were made of stone, which in itself is not usual. However the stones were small enough to fit in your hand, rectangular, and small enough to fit in your hand. They were also a strange red colour, and held together with a strange frame of grey rock, which strangely seemed to fit the rectangular rocks perfectly. The roofs were another matter. They were tile like normal buildings, mostly, but also a kind of thatch too filling in the gaps. Some houses looked as if they had decided to start some kind of vegetable patch on their roofs.  
From the air the city looked as if it had been made using whatever was handy, but now they were on the ground it looked as if there was some kind of advantage to do it like this.  
Gonzales looked at the group. Pedro looked just as confused as Gonzales. Izmael and Babham looked strangely nervous and twitchy.  
"Hey, are you ok?"  
"Yes, Yes fine" came Izmaels reply (all too quickly for Gonzales' liking)  
"No problems here cap'n" added Babham  
"Well if you say so. Well then shall we all split up and look for supplies? We'll meet back here at dinnertime" said Gonzales  
"Say, erm, would it be ok if Babham and I stayed here to, uh, repair the ship a bit first"  
"Oookay then, I guess we'll see ya later"  
  
* My mental picture is that of Mos Eisley Space port from Star Wars ** One of the rungs on the ladder was loose 


	5. Priceless Secrets

Yo all thanks for all your support, in reviewing this fan-fic. I have tried to take all of your feedback into account and amongst other things I tried to provide you with longer chapters, I think the page count is up to 14 with this new chapter (that's handwritten not typed). Suggestions on where to go with the story are taken into account but unfortunately not all will be able to become part of the story itself, please continue sending suggestions by all means and I will do all I can do weave them into the story. So finally, here is Chapter 5.

                             Thanks again

                                       Jonny 5

NB. Please note that my stories do no checking or viewing before it is published on the website. So basically tell me if something does not run quite right or if there is are grammar mistakes.

Chapter 5: Priceless Secrets Gonzales 

            Gonzales walked the streets north of the dock alone. It had been several hours since him and his 'crew' had landed in the island town. Geriva itself was turning out to be more advanced or civilised, or something like along those lines, than any other city Gonzales had ever seen. The pavements were paved with stone (not cobbled) and were as clean as they would be if it had been paved barely hours before.

            "This city certainly is different" he thought

            As he turned the corner into another street he noticed a shop that looked promising. A very herby smell hit him as he entered, that was probably a result of all the herbs and incenses that were lining the shelves.

            Many kinds of plants and medicines were stacked all over the walls almost all of them in jars or boxes of some sort. There were so many medicines in fact, that no part of any of the walls were visible.

            Gonzales looked around the shelves at the various creams and ointments and plants. One caught his eye and he decided to investigate. 

            "Can-a-bis" he read out loud to himself, and at this he took off the lid and took a deep breath. This action filled his lungs with a powder, and brought on a fit of coughing. He instinctively put the jar at arms length and stared at the floor (now turning a lovely shade of lavender) through watering eyes.

            "May I help you?" came a female voice from behind him

"What the hell is that stuff?" he said and passed the jar to the person behind him, who took it and screwed the lid back on.

"Cannabis, it should be illegal" was the reply

"You're telling me!"

"Don't worry you didn't inhale much the effects should wear off in a minute. You must be new around here, is there anything you need?"

"Well you see I …" It was at this point that Gonzales felt well enough to turn and look at the vice behind him. What he saw caught him off guard. Either that cannabis was having a worse effect on him than he thought or he was seeing angels flying around the shopkeeper's head.

 "I, I, I, I,"

            "You look like a sailor, we have some medicines that you may find useful over here." She was the single most beautiful thing Gonzales had ever seen.

            "I, I, I, I," His eyes, still watering form the Cannabis, created a haze around her, like those you get in sitcoms

            "Is there any thing you want?"

            "I, I, I,"

            "Sir are you ok?"

            "I, erm yeah fine, uh just the cannabis. Ah, erm, what did I come for? Ah yes, I am a sailor, we erm I need some supplies for my ship."

            "Yes of course, we er have a kind of package for sailors, that you may be interested in."

            "That sounds fine… Say you wouldn't know where I can get large amounts of wood, do you?"

            "Well as a matter of fact my father owns a chain of businesses, including this shop and a timber company, I'll get you the address."

            Gonzales felt uplifted at this news. If he could elongate the stay here and to get her father to supply them with wood then he could probably see her more often. After talking over the counter for an hour with her, he found out that she was called Malum, that she was 21 (younger than Gonzales if you don't remember), and that her father used to be a Blue Rogue. Malum on the other hand was seemed very interested in Gonzales' lifestyle, friends, and relationships (a good sign).

            After an hour Gonzales tore himself form the shop after explaining that he ought to go help his friends repair the ship and that he still had some errands to do.

            "Be sure to check the package when you get a chance" called Malum from the store entrance.

            "Package? Oh Package yes, yes of course thank you." And at that Gonzales walked around the corner.

Pedro 

Several hours later, Pedro had just finished eating the biggest meal of his life at a nice restaurant when he bumped into Gonzales.

            "Yo Gonzo, any luck?

            "What, oh yeah actually I have got some medical supplies, found a place where we can get wood and I am just about to follow up on where to buy large amounts of food for the journey."

            "Not bad, not bad.. Well the sun is beginning to set and it sounds like you have everything under control so I'll just mosey on back to the ship then, its almost dinner time."

            Gonzales looked at the restaurant.

            "Didn't you just have something to eat?"

            "Just a light snack"

            "There's no food left in he buffet"

            "That sign was challenging me!" Pedro waved at a very confused Gonzales and headed back to the ship.

            Gonzales stared at the sign* for 5 minutes, then entered the restaurant.

            Pedro wandered the now emptying streets back to the dock. Day had long turned to night by the time he got there. He had decided to surprise Izmael and Babham by sneaking up on them. He entered through the back door and crept from barrel to crate, slowly advancing up to the pair. The warm glow of a fire got closer and closer until…

            "Why on Arcadia did you tell them about this place?" came Izmaels voice

            Pedro stopped and dove behind a stack of crates.

            "I'm not sure," replied Babham's

            "We may as well have killed ourselves there and then"

            "They wont kill us"

            "They will if that madman comes here again, what was his name?"

            "Abe Gillst"

            "Abe Gillst. We're here riskin' our necks for a piece of paper that we are probably going to be killed for just trying keeping it to ourselves anyway."

            "It's old"

            "So what? I don't care if it's the parchment that the first king of Nasr wrote the laws of his land on."

            "It will make us richer than we can ever imagine"

            The use of the phrase 'richer than we can ever imagine' caught Pedro's attention. He decided that this was as good as time as any to show himself.

            "What is it?" He asked the two as he casually walked out from behind the crates.

            Izmael and Babham turned a ghostly white.

            "Eh?" One of them managed to stammer, eventually.

            "Simple enough question, what is this piece of paper you are talking about?" repeated Pedro.

            Izmael looked at Babham for help.

            "Tell him" said Babham obviously stressed and annoyed at this development.

            "Well it's… a map"

            "A map?"

            "Yes"

            "To where?"

            "Ever heard of Daccat?"

Gonzales 

            Gonzales left the restaurant half an hour later. He hadn't eaten much due to the butterflies still in his stomach leftover from his meeting with Malum earlier. He decided to take a walk to think over things, make a new plan. His thoughts shot from one place to another, every time invaded by one thing, one person. 

Malum the girl from the shop. His mind shot back to the shop, creating new happier endings to that meeting. All shattered by reality. Gonzales' heart sunk, and he wandered the glum, empty streets alone.

            Eventually Gonzales came across a park and he decided to sit on a park bench for a while, to think more clearly. He wandered for a while along the gravelled paths and finally sat down on a bench under a tree. He stared at the lake sprawled out in front of him.

The fresh air heightened his spirits a bit, but he was still glum. It was then that he remembered her last words to him as he left the shop.

"Be sure to check your package"

Why would she say that? No shopkeeper has ever said anything like that. What did it mean? He opened the package in a hurry, adrenaline pumped through his veins.

Thumbling madly at the box, he finally managed to open it. 2 notes were immediately visible. One was a receipt, the other was a note and it had his name on it.

Gonzales,

            I finish my shift at half past nine, meet me under the only oak tree opposite the lake at 10 o'clock.

                                    Malum,

                                                XXX

            Gonzales suddenly became aware of his surroundings. Opposite was a lake, above him were the sprawling branches of a giant oak tree. He looked around desperately and ran to use the waters edge to use the lake as a mirror. Just as he was tidying up his appearance the Town bell began to ring. Gonzales counted under his breath.

1…

2…

3…

4…

5…

6…

7…

8…

9…

10…

            "Hi there,"

            A splash could be heard from all over the park.

* Which read 'all you can eat!'


	6. Revelations

WOOHOO at last chapter 6 is here at last and it is here to stay. I finally managed to get the time to complete this, A-levels are helluva hard and take up a lot of time. Fortunately I am now back into the swing of things and chapter 7 has already been started and is shaping up nicely. So as always place questions on the review section or e-mail me with ideas or problems about this here story and I will do everything I can to answer. So its on with the show and enjoy Jonny 5 Chapter 6: Revelations Thousands upon thousands of tiny lights shone down upon the world of arcadia. In Geriva all was peaceful, nothing was making a sound save the usual nightlife*. The stars twinkled in the sky much as they always had. Though the stars themselves weren't really twinkling, that's just an illusion caused by some planetary phenomenon most likely to do with convection currents. If stars did twinkle a lot of planets would become hot and cold very quickly every second. All were asleep peacefully, except two figures in the cities central park. The pair weren't asleep though they were at peace. Gonzales, who had fallen in the lake, was now dry and had his arm around Malum a girl he had not yet known for a day. She rested her head on his shoulder. Neither had said anything for hours now they just sat and enjoyed their perfect moment. Many more hours passed and the lovers were both asleep by the time the sun began to creep over the horizon. Gonzales awoke first when the suns first beams of light hit his eyelids. He blinked the sleep out of his eyes and when he realised what the weight on his arm was the memories of the night before flooded back. The happiness he recalled faded almost as quickly as it arrived. He would have to leave her soon, staying was out of the question, the call of being a pirate was too strong. He wasn't sure what he had to do that would be crucial in the grand scheme of things, but he knew it was important. She wouldn't come with him either, she had too much to live for here and she would not leave it so readily. As Malum woke up her mind went through a very similar process to Gonzales'. She looked up at him and smiled half heartedly. "you'll be leaving soon wont you?" she asked after a few minutes. Gonzales sighed. He knew he would have to tell her eventually. "I'm afraid so. Not soon though if I can help it." "will you die?" He took a minute think about this "yes" he answered eventually Malum sat bolt upright and went pale. Gonzales explained. "we will all die eventually, its an inevitability that no-on can escape. There are few who choose to die freely. Some accept it, most ignore it the only thing I know is that all we can do is choose where and when we die" Malum relaxed, this little speech brought a tear to her eye. "And when do you choose to die?" "Oh a long, long time yet I choose to live a long and happy life before I take the bow" The two sat and watched the sun rise. "why did you ask about that?" "Generally pirates aren't particularly popular and you already seem to have quite a nasty looking wound on your face. It looks like its gonna scar." "Hmm I thought it might, I had a run in with some clown called Abe Gillst" "GILLST???" Malum sat bolt upright at this. "you fought against Abe Gillst and survived. There are not many who can say that" "Better increase that number by four" "I'd watch your back if your plans of a long life are to stay intact. Who were the other three?" "One was a friend and travelling companion the other two were prisoners who escaped from Abe's ship" "How long ago was this?" "Can't have been much more than week ago now" "I want to meet these two prisoners of yours" Izmael, Brabham** and Pedro woke up at the crack of dawn to work on the ship. Plans lay on a desk showing what the Light of Progress would look like once repairs were finished. The ship sown on the plans looked nothing like what was actually in the dock, since it was generally agreed that now Izmael and Brabham were probably going to be part of the group for a while now, the ship was going to need to be bigger with more living space and supplies storage. Three new main sails were to replace the old single one. These were to be triangular shaped and would overlap each other backwards. Six new cannons were to be installed replacing the original pivot mounted one. These would be placed three on each side facing out to port and starboard and would sit on a larger main deck. A storeroom would be erected (you at the back stop giggling) where the pivot cannon used to be. The bridge would still be where it was only one level higher, this 'hub' would have access points to below deck the main deck and the bridge. The engine would sit at the centre of the ship blocking off access to a store area in front of it. The old engine would be replaced by a smaller more powerful engine that would power the ship as well as four new smaller sails that would 'row' like you would if you in a rowing boat. The area to the back end of the ship would be a storage area along with two crew quarters and a docking area for two life rafts. All this work was going to take approximately three weeks provided there were no delays. The trio were building the new deck and bridge when Pedro noticed a familiar figure standing at the entrance to the dock. Izmael and Babham saw two, and one didn't look very happy. "YOU!" yelled Malum at the top of her voice. "YOU WERENT SUPPOSED TO COME BACK! YOU SHOULD BE DEAD NOW, NO-ONE LIVES MORE THAN A FEW DAYS IN GILLST'S CELLS" "Whoa there Malum, are you sure these are the two you were talking about on the way down here" said Gonzales taken aback from this sudden outburst and desperate to quiet things down a bit. Brabham answered "Yes" "What? Why? ... How? ... When? What the hell is going on!" "Almost a month ago now, we came looking for a map. A map that leads us to, what is generally agreed to be the biggest stash of treasure on the face of Arcadia. The one that every pirate dreams about, and only a few come close to. You of course now which map I'm on about now. Daccat's map. Unfortunately we are not the only ones looking for it. Abe Gillst has not been very far behind us from the very start. By the time we got here, we can't have been here more than a couple of days before he arrived and began to demand our capture and the map. The mayor persuaded him that they didn't have the map and were more than welcome to hand us over if he had some time to look. Obviously the moment he demanded we were given to him we made a beeline to our ship, to wait for him to move so we could sneak away. Unfortunately the townsfolk found us and burned us out of our ship a day later and we were given a... trial I suppose on the spot. There the mayor and his daughter here sentenced us after a few minutes where we found out we were to be handed over to Gillst and if by some fluke that we survived, never to return in case Gillst followed us there again. A week later we escaped after some young idiots came too close to where Abe was hiding. After taking heavy damage they still managed to beat Abe in a ship so old that there was more mould than wood. Once we were in a life raft we decided to help them on their way and maybe even let them in on our quest, eventually." "Eventually?" asked Gonzales who had not heard any of this before then. "They told me only last night. They were going to tell you as soon as you got back, which in a sense they did" Said Pedro defending Izmael and Brabham. "Fair enough, but Malum you said you were the daughter of a successful businessman not the daughter of the mayor." "I am the daughter of a business man. I am also the daughter of the mayor. You see the honour of mayor is given to the man who has most power over the people. In the old days it used to be the richest or to those in the cathedral over there." The group sat around for a few minutes before Pedro eventually broke the ice "Well then. What now?" "They have to leave before Abe comes looking for them." "They cant it looks like those repairs are gong to take a few weeks" said Gonzales "Ooh that reminds me, we're going to need 20000 gold pieces to finish this and I reckon we can finish in a week, we don't have to do it all now." "Right then. I'll go out in a life raft and try to figure what's happened to Gillst, we should be safe here he cant have known where we were going to when he went down" said Gonzales "Need any help?" Volunteered Pedro. "No I'll be fine and besides we need to finish repairs here as quickly as possible." "Then Gonzales noticed that the ship was a bit different to what he last remembered "WHAT THE HELL HAVE YOU DONE TO MY SHIP?!" "Just a few minor modifications, nothing to worry about. Well you oughta be off looking for Gillst now before he realises we're here. Happy hunting cya." Izmael hurried Gonzales to a life raft before he had a chance to complain some more. Just as Gonzales' ship vanished of the surrounding buildings Pedro turned to Izmael. "You didn't have to do that you know, I could have handled him" "It seemed to save the bother this way he'll have to accept no matter what the ship looks like when he gets back." A minute passed "You said it was your ship"  
  
*Damn crickets **Thanks to Kuroi Tatsu for pointing this out. If you don't know what I'm on about I used to spell it Babham  
  
Authors note  
  
Well chapter 7 is almost completed, which is great and all of course. However, to show the evilness of Abe Gillst, i wrote a section of the story that to say the least, would bump the age rating up to 'R'. I am not sure how all you out there would react to that, i know i felt a bit off colour just writing it, although i am easily sickened. I guess i do have the mental picture perfect in my mind. basically what im saying is, can you voice your opinion about this age rating increase.  
Thanks all  
jonny 5 


	7. Guess who's back, back again

            I don't like eminem, just for the record. This line from one of his songs just seemed to fit the chapter well. Any who on with the show, I hadn't intended on putting any more chapters on for a while but chapter 8 was taking so long that I thought I ought to make sure that all you readers out there didn't think I had forgotten about this. 

            So yeah here is chapter 7, I didn't decide to go with the blood and gore in the end, oh and yes I do know that the grammar for chapters 3 and 6 are messed up ill get onto that just as soon as I find the files for them. I really don't want to have to type them up again. And one last thing, chapter 9 may take a while seeing as I need to check some facts on the game, which may take a while because my AS exams start in under 4 weeks. Another reason why the next chapters may take a while.

                                                Jonny 5

Chapter 7: Guess who's back, Back again 

Gonzales looked back at the rapidly shrinking dock and the madly waving Brabham and Pedro. He thought the first obvious place to look was the place where the battle took place. There ought to be some form of evidence at Gillsts fate, no evidence meant that he had fallen into the lower sky; a charred reef meant that he had limped away. 

Gonzales raft was significantly faster than the collection of mould he called a ship. This meant that it only took a couple of days to get to the site. Gonzales considered this time well spent as he took the opportunity to update and append his journal. He had ignored it for a couple of weeks now since the attack and subsequent repairs had taken up a significant portion of his time.

At last he reached his destination the stone reef had thickened up and had a lot of the significant land marks that despite the change of lighting made this place unmistakeably the place the battle had taken place. It didn't take much looking before Gonzales had his answer to Gillsts fate. A large rock quite low down and quite at the same place as the rest of the reef had an unmistakeable sign of recent activity. A portion of it was black with ashes, as expected from a blast of pyres. A deep scar had been dug from an impact of something large and ship shaped. Once he had landed it definitely the place Gillst had landed after the battle, the Red Avengers flag (Gillsts own pirate sect) had been discarded, as were many other hallmarks of Red Avenger activity. They liked to mark their property and, for want a better word, sacred sites much like a dog would, except they liked to use blood not urine. What kind of blood wasn't known but it almost certainly the blood of a pig they had to eat last night.

Many parts of a large engine were strewn about the rock in an apparently random fashion. If Brabham were there he would have said that there was almost enough to make an entirely new engine, if he were there. Most looked twisted and warped but not from heat, from sheer brute force. This seemed to suggest that since there was a distinct lack of the rest of the ship that they had simply replaced the old engine with a new one. Made sense thinking about it, it's a heck of a lot easier to simply replace an engine than figure out what was wrong with the old one. Provided you had the money to do so.

There was a thud as something heavy landed behind Gonzales. This message barely had time to register with Gonzales when something hit him in the small of his back. Gonzales' pirate reactions kicked in to action and he went into a roll and drew his cutlass. He saw his foe for the first time.

It was a black lion like animal but with much less mane and a beak. It also had two large looking wings folded up at its sides. It had a strange uneven look about it one eye was higher than the other and the beak was slightly lopsided. Kind of like what you would get if you stuck your hand down a taxidermists sink threw what you pulled out at a lion and stuck a couple of wings on. It also looked familiar somehow, and the kind of angry that was naturally angry.

Gonzales ran at it, jumped and brought his cutlass down to where its back is… was. It rolled and kicked out at Gonzales with a paw that was larger than his head. The blow had a lot of weight about it and it sent Gonzales sliding, towards the edge. He wobbled as his feet ran stopped millimetres before they would have slipped off the edge for sure. It bounded towards him with the obvious intent of knocking Gonzales off. Gonzales jumped, flipped in the air and sliced at the beasts back and landed neatly on its feet just as it stumbled and fell off the edge.

"Hah not so tough now are ya'?"

He was about to turn back to his raft to continue his search when it appeared flapping its wings rising up from below the rocks edge.

"Damn"

It dove at him before Gonzales could react and sunk its claws into his shoulders. Gonzales struggled to keep the snapping beak away from his face. Boy did it smell bad. He brought his foot up to what he hoped was a sensitive area. The beast yelped like a Chihuahua and despite being heavy moved a couple of meters from the force of the hit. It shook the pain off in a second and turned to face Gonzales. For an animal that was naturally angry it sure seemed really pissed off. Gonzales ran at it and slid under its belly, slicing its leg joints as he did so.

The beast roared in pain and limped towards the edge whilst unfurling its wings.

"Oh no you don't" said Gonzales who ran to his life raft to fly after it

It was surprisingly quick for a wounded animal and was only slightly slower than Gonzales' raft.

"Hey blacky, your ass is mine, and you know what I gonna do with it? I'm making a brand new bag." Taunted Gonzales.

After a while the small boat finally caught up to the beast and Gonzales pulled up along side it. Gonzales tried to hack at it with his cutlass but the animal managed to dodge every attempt to wound it further. Air certainly seemed to be its element. 

It managed to increase its speed and dove towards lower sky. Gonzales followed it into the nearby reef and began to follow it inside of the boulders. He wove in and out dodging each rock at break neck speeds. The small raft began to complain as he forced it to move at increasing velocities.

Then Gonzales realised something was wrong. The boulders up head were beginning to become smaller, breaking into more and more fragments. Gonzales pulled up as hard as he could just managing to dodge the flight paths of several cannon balls. As he managed to pull out of the reef it was obvious who the attacker was. A fleet of ships were just outside of the reef all shooting at him. All of them bore the flag of Gillst, the Red Reaper, Gillsts own pirate sect much like the black pirates and blue rogues. The lead ship was obviously Gillsts; someone that maniacal wouldn't let a mere subordinate take charge of a ship with that many cannons.

Another round of shells were fired, Gonzales managed to avoid the blast but the shockwave was another story. It tore through the rafts engines and knocked Gonzales over. He banged his head pretty badly but managed to keep conscious. The engine started to splutter and smoke and Gonzales did all he could to keep it under control. He steered towards the boulder where the battle with the beast took place. He could use some of the parts there to make the necessary repairs.

Gonzales just saw the boulder come into sight before he finally lost consciousness. As he fell he saw Gillsts fleet sailing towards Nasr. Gonzales didn't need to be a master ship builder to know that they were heading to Geriva. He had to warn the others, but before that a little nap wouldn't hurt.

                        That's all for now folks. This chapter was originally a lot longer but it was taking too long to type up so the next chapter shouldn't be too long before that ones up. The one after that it already on the way but as I already said, I have exams on the way so it may take a while.

                        I hope you enjoyed this and are looking forward to the next instalment of… THE ADVENTURES OF GONZALES AND PEDRO

                                                Jonny 5


	8. Instructions not included

Authors note  
Booya. Another chapter done and the wait this time was a little less than normal, though still a long time. I have decided to make this an update for chapter 8 because 9 was turning out to be even smaller and so i figured it would help the story to flow a bit more. I have put a few dashes where the new content starts so you can skip the old bit if you've read it before. Just yell if you dont understand whats going on 'cause I have been stop-starting this chapter for a few months. Anyway I am gonna stop here cus I tend to write too much in these Authors notes.   
Enjoy  
Jonny 5 

Chapter 8 : Instructions not included

Gonzales woke up with a start about an hour later, suddenly realising that taking a nap when people were in danger wasnt exactly a good idea. There was no sign of Gillsts fleet except for a trail of exhaust where they had once flown. Gonzaled looked around, well he'd made it to the beasts rock. There was no shortage of spare parts around so he decided to get to work on the life rafts engine.  
The repairs were finished in no time at all and though the little boat seemed to be functional again, Gonzales was a little worried that the original engine casing no longer fit. He put it down to the fact that the parts were originally part of a much larger engine. He also realised that this would probably make it use more fuel, but that wouldnt matter as long as he got back to Geriva before Gillst.  
He hopped in turned the engine on, it started with purr so at least it seemed to be working properly. Gonzales pushed the lever that made it go all the way forward. The raft didnt move, it sounded like it was making power just not using it to move. But if its making power and not moving then that means...  
"Uh-oh". The raft shot into the distance before Gonzales had a chance to jump out. It was going at such a speed that Gonzales' feet were no longer touching the deck. His face felt kind of tight too.  
"YEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE". Gonzales looked down at the spedomiter, which he just managed to catch a glimpse of before it vanshed in a puff of smoke. Was it meant to twitch around like that?  
He managed to put his feet back down onto the floor, and checked behind him to see how far he had come. The answer was still unclear, since the boulder he had started on was no longer visable. The only evidence that he had been moving was a trail of smoke coming from the jets of fire from the rafts exhaust ports.  
Gonzales stopped the boat to catch his bearings, though at the speed he was going they would probably take a while to get there. He wasnt even sure he was going in the right direction. Night was beginning to fall and the moons were already beginning their ascent.  
"I know I can use the moons to find out where I am", Gonzales checked the sky.  
"Lets see, Geriva is near Nasr so the red moon should be high with the yellow moon rising in the north west. I was near the green moon so if I was going in the right direction that should be due south. But its not... where is it, aha its south east and the yellow moon is north, so that means i need to go north east to go to Nasr."  
Gonzales maneuvered the boat in the right direction and slowly set the power to full. He didnt want to take himself by surprise and wake up at the bottom of lower sky. By the time he was under way night had fully fallen. Gonzales wasnt exactly quick on the uptake.  
The increase in speed meant that Gonzales had only travelled three hours before the red moon was getting to where it should be. It was Gonzales noticed a glow on the horizon.  
"Hmm, pretty sunset" he thought. Then he realised that it was almost midnight.  
Then the landmass that was Geriva appeared on the horizon. From what he could see from this distance, it was burning, a lot. Fireballs occasionally rose up into the sky before dissapearing as canisters of fuel were ignited. This created, to all those unfortunate enough to still be alive, a rather hellish effect.  
A minute passed and Gonzales was close enough to see the extent of the damage. The enormus amounts of power behind Gillsts cannons was immediately apparent. Huge craters dotted the landscape, and cracks were begining to widen across the landscape. The edges of Geriva were crumbling, becoming small chunks and falling to the depths of lower sky. What few maps Geriva was on, it wasnt going to be for much longer. Gonzales switched on the rafts floodlight and began to look for a place to land.  
----  
Landing on the island was a problem, even for a ship as small as Gonzales' life raft. With someone as calculating as Gillst the ports were the first places to go, hopefully the other got out ok. Everywhere else was fire or rubble making for difficult landing. Setting down at the edge was also a no go, the crumbling of the land mass meant that even though the raft would stay afloat it wouldnt be reachable in a couple of hours. Gonzales realised the best place to land was the lake, and so he set down there. Once he was off the boat Gonzales turned off the engine and pushed it into the lake (1).   
Gonzales looked around the landscape and preyed he would not be there for long. This once lively city was making him jumpy. Whatever the arcadians image of hell was, this was it. Like Hell the air was thick with ashes and smoke but obviously not brimstone, fires raged all over the city giving a glow that Gonzales could not describe. If he was Earth now he would have described it like the orange haze you get over cities at night from the street lamps.  
He first headed to where he thought the docks once were, hoping he wouldnt see the remains of a boat and his friends. Gonzales started to run, he couldnt bear the doubt over his friends fate, he had to know.  
Finding the dock was much harder than Gonzales expected. Everyone always say how different cities look at night, it was amazing the difference a few shells could make. He could no longer see the road for the rubble, and there was very little left of the buildings (2). That said there was just enough left of the buildings to make out where the road boundarys were.  
Now tiring, Gonzales slowed down to a jog, though he still didnt see the crater until he was at the bottom of it. Gonzales slowly got up rubbing his head after the fall, it wasnt a particularly large crater. Now he was standing up most of his torso was above it and he could probably touch both sides if he streched his arms out. Although there was a strange object at the bottom. Obviously some kind of weapon and probably a dud seeing as how the crater wasnt as large as the others. It was quite different to a normal cannonball, it was elongated and looked like it was constructed rather than moulded. The rivets were what gave this away. It also had some kind of fan at the back too. Gonzales decided to investigate it further later and so, after marking out the site with pyri fires, set off again towards... wherever the dock is, was.  
He had barely run for a minute before some rubble began to move and talk.   
"help". The voice was barely audible and sounded like the rubble was struggling to breathe.  
Gonzales easily found the source quickly. It was a man who looked just older than Gonzales, and was trapped under a section of what was once an old wall and some wooden beams. Gonzales dug him out and helped him to sit against what was once a wall.  
"Its ok I'm a friend. Can you tell me your name?"  
"Rium" gasped the man.  
"Ok Rium I am going to fix you up good, you just try to stay consious alright? Who did this?" As if he had to ask.  
"Gillst"  
"Alright this is going to hurt for a second" said Gonzales got ready to pop Riums arm back into its socket. Rium gasped as it went back into place, he wasnt strong enough to scream. After a while Rium started to look a bit better, although was suffering from the pain of being prodded to check bones, and from lack of energy. Gonzales cast Sacres several times which helped bring back some of Riums colour  
"Can you tell me the way to the dock?"  
"You're... already there" at this Rium began to lose colour again.  
"NO! Dont go now. Listen to me, were there any others here? What happened to them?"  
"Gonzales? They said you would come... Your... too late. They..." Rium exhaled, and went limp. Gonzales checked his pulse and sighed.  
"Talk about a cliche" he muttered. Looking around, the rubble seemed to have most of the features of the dry dock. The reamins of A tower was evident in one corner. There was enough rubble to suggest there had been high walls. The pile of burning wood (mouldy) seemed to confirm Gonzales' worst fears and fit into what Rium seemed to be trying to say before he went. Maybe the others really were gone.  
Gonzales gathered wood and started a fire where he and Rium were talking barely moments before. He had to decide what to do next.

N.B. To help save on confusion later, this chapter ended at 2:00 in the morning

(1)Better to have a wetboat than a pile of ashes  
(2)I have an image of buildings during the WWII Blitz in my mind, for anyone whos seen pictures.


End file.
